Content:

1. Editorial

• Begüm Ozkaynak: Ecological Economics in 2017

2. News from ESEE and its members

• Special Issue: Environmental Policy and Governance (September/ October 2017, vol. 27/05)

3. Hot topics

• Anders Ekeland: Neoclassical economics and the ‘Aims of the ESEE’
• Tim Foxon: Productivity and economic growth

4. Student spotlight

• Sarah Hafner: Ecological economics: a necessary alternative to the mainstream

5. Events, jobs and publications

• Job opportunity: Five tenure track professor positions open in sustainability science at Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science, Sweden
• Job opportunity: 11 Tenure-track assistant professor positions at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Netherlands
• Job opportunity: New postdoctoral research position in adaptive capacity and resilience research, University of Leeds, UK
• Job opportunity: Postdoctoral researcher position within EU-funded research project: ‘Essential Variables Workflows for Resource Efficiency and Environmental Management (GEOEssential)’, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Germany
• Job opportunity: Postdoctoral researcher position in field of environment studies with a focus on ecological economics/ social solidarity economy, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
• Job opportunity: Research Assistant at the Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, Division of Social-Ecological Interactions in Agricultural Systems, University of Kassel, Germany
• PhD/Early Stage Research Fellow positions available within RECOMS Innovative Training Network
• Call for proposals: Living Knowledge Conference at the Corvinus Business School, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary, May 30^th to June 01^st 2018
• Call for contributions: 5^th European Congress of Conservation Biology in Jyväskylä, Finland, June 12^th to 15^th 2018
• Call for contributions: 6^th International Degrowth Conference for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity: 'Dialogues in turbulent times', Malmö, Sweden, August 21^st to 25^th 2018
• Call for contributions: Special Session: Degrowth and Digitalisation at the 17^th Annual STS Conference, Graz, Austria, May 07^th to 08^th 2018
• Degrowth in the EU Parliament: Post-growth conference to challenge the economic thinking of EU institutions, Brussels, Belgium, September 18^th to 19^th 2018
• FINEPRINT: Vienna University researcher Stefan Giljum receives ERC Consolidator Grant to develop a spatially-explicit global material flow model
• New book: ‘Energy and Economic Growth: Why we need a new pathway to prosperity’ by Timothy J Foxon
• New website for teaching ecological economics

 

1. Editorial

Ecological Economics in 2017

By Begüm Ozkaynak

2017 has been a dynamic year for the ESEE community! To me this was no surprise, and certainly reflected in the key theme of the ESEE Biennial Conference, ‘Ecological Economics in Action: Building a Reflective and Inclusive Community’ organised by Corvinus University in Budapest this summer, to great success. Several special issues are now expected to come out of this conference - one in Environmental Policy and Governance with the heading, ‘Ecological Economics: Research with Impact?’

Anders Ekeland actually underlined the importance of dynamism and change for ecological economics in his hot topic for this newsletter. It is true that topics of interest to the ESEE and its members have evolved throughout the years. We initially began some 20 years ago by discussing the different meanings of sustainability together with different valuation methods and languages. Today, the community is more actively involved in science-policy interfaces and engaged in exploring alternative transformation(s) to sustainability and ways in which knowledge can be co-produced to create responsible and creative pathways to attain it. As ecological economists, we of course still have a lot more work to do to weave together an alternative economic narrative for prosperity that combines social goals with low carbon; a point Tim Foxon also makes in the second hot topic of this newsletter.

The good news is that ESEE members are working hard to disseminate the work being done by the Society. As featured in this newsletter, Inge Ropke and her colleagues at Aalborg University in Denmark have launched a new website for teaching ecological economics, for instance. The Routledge Handbook of Ecological Economics edited by Clive Spash also came out this year, and is an inspirational resource for Society members old and new, as is the Handbook of Ecological Economics, edited by Joan Martinez Alier and Roldan Muradian in 2015.

The ESEE Board has maintained its dynamism as well. We now run two parallel elections; one for the ESEE board members and one for student representatives. We will hopefully start working with our newly or re-elected ESEE board members in the upcoming year. We have profiles of the terrific candidates on the ESEE website, under the tab labelled “Governance”. All candidates are highly committed to serving on the ESEE Board, and based on their extremely motivated statements, they seem ready to support the Society’s work at several levels: academically, in policy circles and in teaching.

So in closing, I would like to take this opportunity to first thank this year’s candidates for being nominees, and then ask our members to support the election process and use their right to vote! And for those who were unable to be a nominee this year or are unable to vote somehow, the next election for the ESEE Board will be held in autumn 2018.
On behalf of the ESEE Board, I wish you and your families a peaceful and relaxing Christmas break and a Happy (and more sustainable?) New Year!

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2. News from ESEE and its members

Special Issue: Environmental Policy and Governance (September/ October 2017, vol. 27/05)

The current issue of EPG features a special issue coordinated by ecological economists David Barton, Irene Ring and Graciela Rusch. The content develops an array of perspectives stemming mainly from a collaborative EU-research effort on adequate policy-mixes in the conservation of ecosystems. The POLICYMIX-project – and the special issue with its 6 papers – situates itself at one of the forefronts of EcolEcon-thinking: addressing the real complexities of the natural world when configuring and thinking of our socio-political and socio-economic responses. Articles offer conceptual and empirical insight into the design and evolution of policy-mixes in response to ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation objectives in a range of contexts. The full special issue can be found here.

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3. Hot topics

Neoclassical economics and the ‘Aims of the ESEE’

By Anders Ekeland, Statistics Norway

In their aims, the ESEE states the methodological foundation of ecological economics in the following way:
 

 “Ecological economics thus envisages the use of analytical tools and concepts coming from many different disciplines and fields of experience. Among these, the results and techniques of neoclassical economics can be appropriate if their conditions of applicability and limits are made clear and they are placed in a wider framework of interpretation. At the same time ecological economics insists that economic science needs to open out to the insights and analytical techniques that may be offered from other fields such as the life sciences, the humanities and technology assessment.”

I would argue that this paragraph should be changed because neoclassical economics, being based on general equilibrium theory, cannot be made compatible with dynamic theory which is, and must be, the methodological basis for ecological economics. Ecological economics is about dynamics, about change, about transition to a sustainable society. The economy and environment consist of complex interactions of physical and economic feed-back loops. Causality must have a time dimension. In a static, general equilibrium model there is no time dimension, no causality, only a static solution – a fixed-point solution. Since all actors in a general equilibrium world are price takers, there is no endogenous mechanism that brings about price changes. So, the mystical Walrasian auctioneer notwithstanding, where do prices come from?

The stated aims of the ESEE also treat neoclassical economics in a strange way in that they single it out as a theory that must clarify the conditions and limits of its application. Should this not apply to all analytical approaches? Why is there a particular need to put the limits of neoclassical economics in a “wider framework”? What kind of framework could this be? It is clear that it must be a dynamic framework - yet it was made mathematically clear decades ago that general equilibrium theory cannot be made dynamic. The numerous, but failed, attempts are described in great and interesting detail by Currie and Steedman in ‘Wrestling with Time’ (Currie and Steedman 1990). The neoclassical emperor really has no clothes, as argued by Alan Kirman in ‘The Intrinsic Limits of Modern Economic Theory: The Emperor Has No Clothes’ (Kirman 1989). Why is the emperor naked? Because there is not and cannot be a proof of stability, an inherently dynamic concept.

To make things even worse, general equilibrium theory cannot handle the arch-typical production function of modern capitalism, namely increasing returns to scale. Which is contrary to the obvious fact that since there are always some fixed costs, unit prices go down and profits increase as you produce and sell more units. This fact was pointed out in an excellent way in Janos Kaldor’s 1972 article ‘The Irrelevance of Equilibrium Economics’ (Kaldor 1972). But being scientifically irrelevant does not mean that neoclassical theory is politically irrelevant for the ruling elites of today. On the contrary - for them it is extremely relevant as a hegemonic ideology. This is due to the core result that perfect competition is the optimal solution, which implies that trade unions are bad, state intervention and regulation are bad - as of course is any obstacle to free trade.

For ecological economists it should be obvious that the concept of perfect competition is fundamentally flawed. It should be called perfect stagnation, because nothing changes - not prices, preferences or technology. It is a ‘dismal’ state of the world where capitalism never is, and nobody wants it to be. A very common critique of neoclassical economics is that it is too mathematical, that it is obsessed with math. This type of critique easily becomes vulgar anti-intellectualism. The critique must focus on the fact that neoclassical economics uses only static mathematical tools, which is of course fundamentally inappropriate when studying as dynamic a phenomenon as capitalism. In my opinion the cited paragraph in the ‘Aims of the ESEE’ should be reformulated so that it is made clear that static equilibrium theory, and therefore neoclassical economics, has no place in ecological economics. It is inherently antithetical to dynamic ecological economics for pure methodological reasons.

References
Currie, M., and Steedman, I., 1990. Wrestling with Time., Manchester Univ. Press
Kaldor, N., 1972. The Irrelevance of Equilibrium Economics, Economic Journal. 82(328), pp. 1237-1235.
Kirman, Alan 1989. The Intrinsic Limits of Modern Economic Theory: The Emperor Has No Clothes. The Economic Journal, 99 {Conference 1989}, pp. 126-139.
 

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Productivity and economic growth

By Tim Foxon, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex

“Our position is to grow the economy” - This statement by a UK opposition Treasury spokesman in a BBC interview is, of course, typical of statements by mainstream politicians across Europe from both the left and right of the political spectrum. In the UK this debate has been triggered again by downgrading of official forecasts of future annual UK economic growth to 1.5% or less for the next 5 years, compared to previous forecasts of nearer 2%. This results from a downgrading of forecasts of annual productivity growth, i.e. output per hour worked, to around 1%. Even this would represent an increase in productivity growth from the rate of around 0.3% over the last five years, resulting from the financial crisis in 2008 and the austerity measures subsequently imposed on the economy. This means that average earnings for a UK worker will still be below 2008 levels by 2022 in real terms (adjusted for inflation), according to the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies.

As ecological economists, we argue that this focus on achieving high rates of economic growth is incompatible with environmental and social goals. Recent critiques of the focus on economic growth and investigations of what an alternative economic system would look like include Tim Jackson’s 2nd edition of ‘Prosperity without Growth’, Rob Dietz and Dan O’Neill’s ‘Enough is Enough’ and my own contribution, ‘Energy and Economic Growth: Why we need a new pathway to prosperity’. However, with mainstream political and economic debates still dominated by discussions about restoring economic growth, we need to better understand the role of (labour) productivity improvements. In simple terms, productivity matters for two main reasons under the current economic system. Firstly, at least some of the gains of productivity growth (more output for the same amount of work) go back to workers in the form of higher wages. Secondly, higher economic growth as a result of productivity improvements results in higher tax revenues for the government, some of which can be used to maintain welfare benefits to the least well-off in society.

In order to restore higher levels of productivity growth the UK government plans to promote innovation in key technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), driverless cars and FinTech (financial technologies), and to boost investment in skills and infrastructure. Whilst some of this investment, such as building more affordable housing, will be socially beneficial, the main criteria for the choice of investment is that it will be economically beneficial in terms of higher economic growth. The idea of a transition to a low carbon economy also seems to have been pushed to the margins, with a commitment that there will be no further increases in levies to support renewable electricity until 2025.

Though some environmental economists, such as Nicholas Stern, argue that the investment associated with a low carbon transition could be a source of long-term productivity and economic growth, there are reasons for doubt that this will provide a ‘magic bullet’. Firstly, there are significant challenges in reorienting the financial system to promote investment in low carbon technologies and energy efficiency, when investments in fossil fuels and carbon-intensive processes may offer higher returns and lower risks in the short-term. Secondly, the argument that the high levels of energy return on energy invested (EROI) associated with easily-accessible fossil fuels was an important driver of economic growth, and that renewable energy technologies may have lower levels of EROI. Thirdly, even achieving a low carbon energy transition would not necessarily address other social and environmental challenges, including reducing inequality and reversing biodiversity loss, unless the underlying structures that give rise to such issues are also addressed.

So, there is still more work to do in weaving together an alternative economic narrative for prosperity that combines social goals, through, for example, a basic citizens income for all, and ensuring that multinational corporations pay their fair share of taxes; economic goals, including reforming the financial system and reducing working hours to spread the available work more evenly; and environmental goals, including setting a mission promoting green and low carbon as the direction for a new surge of innovation.

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4. Student spotlight

Ecological economics: a necessary alternative to the mainstream

Interview with Sarah Hafner

Tell us about yourself.

I am PhD researcher at the Global Sustainability Institute (Anglia Ruskin University). I have a MSc in (neoclassical) Economics and System Dynamics. I realised the importance of ecological boundaries of the economy and the implications of these boundaries on policy choice when I worked on my MSc thesis system dynamics model. Soon afterwards, I learned about the field of ecological economics. Since then, I have viewed the economy through the lens of ecological economics and used system dynamics models as a tool to understand it (where this is appropriate).

What are you researching?

For my PhD – as part of the Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP) – I am seeking to build a system dynamics model to (1) investigate policies that reduce emissions in the UK energy supply sector and (2) analyse the related macroeconomic and socioeconomic consequences of these policies. The focus of my PhD lies on policies that contribute to scaling-up ‘green’ investment in the UK energy sector, as current research shows that the green transition of the UK energy supply sector requires a substantial amount of further investment in renewable infrastructure. Additionally, my PhD reflects on the implications of certain assumptions inherent in Classical General Equilibrium models (e.g. the notion of a long-term equilibrium) on policy recommendations.

If you were in charge of the world economy for one day, tell me one thing what you would do and why?

I view the economy, the environment and societies as complex systems that are interrelated with each other – leading to a complex overall system. The elaboration of effective policies requires understanding of the entire system - at least to some extent. Therefore, as a long-term measure, I would propose to increase funding for research in the field of ecological economics substantially. This would contribute towards an enhanced understanding of the overall system and allow the elaboration of effective policies to steer our current economy towards a sustainable future. As an immediate measure, I would propose to remove all policies beneficial to environmentally or socially harmful projects, in combination with a dramatic increase of wealth-taxes (incl. taxes on land and property) to reduce some path-dependency inherent in the financial system and to increase the capital flows towards sustainable projects (e.g. green infrastructure).

Tell me one thing that you think many ecological economists don’t realise, but should.

I think that ecological economics offers in many areas a strong and well-researched alternative to mainstream economics. Therefore, I think it is important to find new and creative ways to ensure this body of knowledge is applied more frequently in policy-making and made more accessible and understandable to society (incl. students). For example, one could start to organize public events around topics that have an immediate relevance for the targeted audience.

Interviewer: Ellen Stenslie

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5. Events, jobs and publications

Job opportunity: Five tenure track professor positions open in sustainability science at Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science, Finland

Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), is a new cross-faculty research unit in sustainability science at the University of Helsinki. The mission of the institute is to contribute to sustainability transformations of societies by means of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and education. The research focuses in particular on urban studies, consumption and production, and Global South and Arctic contexts. There are around 50 professors and more than 60 researchers associated to the institute in the HELSUS faculties. HELSUS is now seeking outstanding candidates for five positions of assistant/associate/full professor in sustainability science.

Deadline: January 03^rd, 2018
Further information
 

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Job opportunity: 11 Tenure-track assistant professor positions at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Netherlands

The Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University invites highly motivated candidates for tenure-track positions to teach in our Bachelor’s programme Global Sustainability Science. You will teach courses in one of the four study tracks: Water, Climate & Ecosystems, Energy & Resources, Governance & Societal Transformation, or Sustainable Business & Innovation. You may also teach courses in English in other Bachelor and Master programmes of the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development. Next to teaching, you are expected to be talented in research. You are also expected to develop an internationally renowned research line and to acquire new research funds.

Deadline: January 15^th, 2018
Further information
 

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Job opportunity: New postdoctoral research position in adaptive capacity and resilience research, University of Leeds, UK

A three-year postdoctoral researcher position is available at the Sustainability Research Institute in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. The successful applicant will join an interdisciplinary team to lead the collaborative assessment of stakeholder adaptive capacity within case study catchments, and the co-design of key adaptive strategies to improve resilience to phosphorus scarcity and pollution. While the project will take place in the UK, the project team is international and the position will involve working closely with social sustainability research partners in the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney (co-founders of the Global Phosphorus Research Initiative).

Deadline: January 05^th, 2018
Contact: Dr Julia Martin Ortega, J.MartinOrtega@leeds.ac.uk
Further information
 

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Job opportunity: Postdoctoral researcher position within EU-funded research project: ‘Essential Variables Workflows for Resource Efficiency and Environmental Management (GEOEssential)’, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Germany

A 28-month postdoctoral researcher position is available within the EU-funded GEOEssential project. GEOEssential aims to strengthen the European Research Area (ERA) by evaluating existing structures and platforms, and providing new applications in the field of Earth Observation (EO) to monitor progress towards environmental policy targets.

Deadline: December 17^th, 2017
Contact: Dr Thomas Hickler, thomas.hickler@senckenberg.de or Dr Aidin Nimiar, aidin.nimiar@senckenberg.de
Further information
 

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Job opportunity: Postdoctoral researcher position in field of environment studies with a focus on ecological economics/ social solidarity economy, Masaryk University, Czech Republic

The Department of Environmental Studies at the Faculty of Social Studies (FSS) of Masaryk University (MU) invites applications for a 2-year post-doctoral position in the field of ecological economics/social solidarity economy.

Deadline: January 18^th, 2018
Contact: postdoc@fss.muni.cz
Further information
 

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Job opportunity: Research Assistant at the Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, Division of Social-Ecological Interactions in Agricultural Systems, University of Kassel, Germany

A part-time fixed-term position of three years (with the possibility of extending the contract for an additional two years) is available in the Faculty of Organic Agricultural Science at the University of Kassel. Key roles will include contributing to research and teaching within the department, as well as undertaking independent research in the field of ecosystem services and multifunctional land use in Europe. German language skills required.

Deadline: December 19^th, 2017
Contact: Prof Tobias Plieninger, plieninger@uni-kassel.de.
Further information
 

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PhD/Early Stage Research Fellow positions available within RECOMS Innovative Training Network

RECOMS is a H2020 MSCA Innovative Training Network. The purpose of RECOMS is to train 15 Early Stage Research (ESR) Fellows in innovative, transdisciplinary and transformative approaches to promoting and facilitating resourceful and resilient community environmental practice. In addition to engaging in a series of collaborative research and training activities, recruited ESRs will be supported in pursuing a doctoral study project. Details of all 15 positions can be found through the link below.

Contact: Dr Alex Franklin, alex.franklin@coventry.ac.uk
Further information
 

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Call for proposals: Living Knowledge Conference at the Corvinus Business School, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary, May 30^th to June 01^st 2018

Proposals are requested for contributions to the 2018 edition of the Living Knowledge Conference: ‘Enriching Science and Community Engagement’. Conference organisers are inviting academics, practitioners, activists, social innovators, research funders, science educators and communicators, citizen scientists, policy-makers, non-governmental organisations, artists, interested community groups and citizens to share their views and experiences of innovative activities at the science-society interface. A pre-conference summer school will be organized as a side event, aiming at exploring and reflecting on our understanding of socially useful knowledge – the characteristics of good knowledge and ways of knowledge production which can lead to meaningful social changes.

Deadline: January 05^th, 2018
Further information
 

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Call for contributions: 5^th European Congress of Conservation Biology in Jyväskylä, Finland, June 12^th to 15^th 2018

The 5^th European Congress for Conservation Biology (ECCB 2018) will focus on Planetary Wellbeing, responding to the need for environmental conservation that captures both human and ecosystem wellbeing. Experts in conservation and social science, education, public health, policy, and administrative processes will join together to share knowledge and experiences, and to develop solutions for some of the greatest challenges faced by humanity. Calls are now open for abstracts for talks or posters.

Deadline: January 10^th, 2018
Contact: support@peerageofscience.org
Further information
 

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Call for contributions: 6^th International Degrowth Conference for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity: 'Dialogues in turbulent times', Malmö, Sweden, August 21^st to 25^th 2018

This conference aims at expanding the geographical and thematic scope of degrowth discussions, as well as building dialogues with critical social theories, sciences and social movements. Malmö is a perfect city to host such a conference. Vibrant and mixed, but also relaxed and down-to-earth, it has a strong presence of alternative forms of organising and a varied cultural and grassroots life. It is hoped that this conference is used to further consolidate these and act as a platform for mutually enriching dialogues among groups from around the globe striving for a better world.

Deadline: December 31^st, 2017
Contact: info@malmo.degrowth.org
Further information
 

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Call for contributions: Special Session: Degrowth and Digitalisation at the 17^th Annual STS Conference, Graz, Austria, May 07^th to 08^th 2018

This special session will draw together empirical and theoretical work that addresses the question of whether certain digital technologies or ICT in general could support a Degrowth Society. Descriptions of practical attempts to match digital technology with Degrowth are also welcome. Contributions can be from any disciplinary background and on any digital technology and Degrowth concern. The aim is to convene a special session based on the format of the knowledge café, within which diverse perspectives can be elaborated and evaluated jointly by the contributors and an actively engaged audience. A call for abstracts is now open.

Deadline: January 19^th, 2018
Further information
 

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Degrowth in the EU Parliament: Post-growth conference to challenge the economic thinking of EU institutions, Brussels, Belgium, September 18^th to 19^th 2018

A post-growth conference supported by various stakeholders (Members of the European Parliament from different political groups, academics, NGOs and unions) will take place in the premises of the European Parliament to coinciding with the 10^th anniversary of the collapse of the US Bank Lehman Brothers that sparked the economic crisis in which we are still trapped. Workshops will address the theoretical design of models used to frame the European economy, the relevance and feasibility of basic income schemes, the ultimate goal of the internal market, and the environmental consequences of technological progress. More information will be communicated soon.

Further information
 

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FINEPRINT: Vienna University researcher Stefan Giljum receives ERC Consolidator Grant to develop a spatially-explicit global material flow model

Stefan Giljum from the Institute for Ecological Economics at Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) and his research group (Sustainable Resource Use), have been awarded a highly prestigious Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). In the FINEPRINT project, which will run from 2017-2022, Stefan Giljum and his team will develop a spatially-explicit global material flow and footprint model. The FINEPRINT model will allow analysing the relation between trends and patterns of raw material extraction and a range of related environmental and social impacts across countries world-wide. Further, the new model will perform the first fine-scale assessments of Europe’s global material footprint. This will allow identifying global raw material extraction and impact hot-spots related to the final demand for products and services of European countries.

Contact: Dr. Stefan Giljum, stefan.giljum@wu.ac.at
Further information
 

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New book: ‘Energy and Economic Growth: Why we need a new pathway to prosperity’ by Timothy J Foxon

‘Energy and Economic Growth’ by ESEE Board member Tim Foxon provides historical and ecological perspectives on the current challenge of a transition to a low carbon economy. The book examines the links between three issues: history of energy sources, technologies and uses; ecological challenges associated with the current dominant economic growth paradigm; and the low carbon energy transition necessary to mitigate human-induced climate change.

Further information
 

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New website for teaching ecological economics

A new website with basic teaching material on ecological economics is now freely available in Danish and English. The site was produced by Inge Røpke, Emil Urhammer, Susse Georg and Jens Stissing Jensen from Aalborg University, Denmark. The aim is to introduce ecological economics to Danish high school students and other interested parties. Although some of the material relates to Danish conditions, the translation into English means the site can be useful for others.

Further information

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